Monthly Archives: April, 2018

After being swept by the Chicago Cubs in a four-game series this past weekend, we have to ask:

Are the Cubs the Brewers “kryptonite”?

In fact, if we add the St. Louis Cardinals to the discussion, you can make a good case that if the Brew Crew wants to make a serious charge at a playoff spot this season, they better figure out a way to beat these two division opponents.

Let’s go back to 2016. Since then, the Brewers are 38-52 against the Cubs and Cardinals, a winning percentage of .422. From the 2016 season through games of April 29, 2018, the Brewers are 18-28 versus the Cubs (.391 winning percentage) and 20-24 (.455) versus the Cards.

Compare that to all other teams since 2016… the Brewers are 137-126 (.521) since 2016 in games against all other MLB teams other than the Cubs and Cards. That’s a difference of about 100 percentage points (99 to be exact)… .422 versus the Cubs and Cards and .521 against all other teams.

This season is no different. MLB standings show the Brewers at 16-13 this season. Ten of their 13 losses this year have come to the Cubs or Cards (1-7 versus the Cubs, 3-3 versus the Cards). That’s 4-10 versus the Cubs and Cards (.286 winning percentage) and 12-3 (.800) versus the rest of the league.

Any way you look at it, it’s a disturbing trend that the Brewers will need to figure out if they hope to challenge for a post-season spot in 2018.

Were you wondering when the last year your favorite NBA team went on to play in a conference finals or the last time they played in the NBA Finals? Well, wonder no more.

Following is a by-team look at the last year they played in the conference finals and the last year they played in the NBA Finals. Three current franchises, Charlotte, the L.A. Clippers and New Orleans, have never played in a conference final; seven current franchises, Charlotte, Denver, the L.A. Clippers, Memphis, Minnesota, New Orleans and Toronto, have never played in an NBA Finals.

Here are a handful of stats from this past weekend’s NBA playoff games.

The Bucks have evened their series with the Boston Celtics at 2-2 with victories in Games #3 and #4 in Milwaukee. It has been well documented that the Bucks have not won a playoff series since 2001; they have lost seven series since then, losing in first round of those seven playoffs.

The Bucks will try to take the lead in their series with Boston by winning on the road in Game #5. However, past history has shown that the Bucks have not fared well in Games #5 through #7 in their past seven post-season series…the Bucks are 2-9 in Games #5-Games #7 since 2003. Following is a quick look at the Bucks record in each game of the playoffs since 2003.

Game #1: 1-7 Game #2: 2-6 Game #3: 4-4 Game #4: 4-4 Game #5: 2-4 Game #6: 0-4 Game #7: 0-1

The New Orleans Pelicans had two players score 40 or more points in a playoff game when on April 21 Anthony Davis had 47 and Jrue Holiday had 41 as the Pelicans swept the Portland Trailblazers 4-0 in the first round of the playoffs. It was only the fifth time in NBA history that a pair of teammates scored 40 or more points in the same playoff contest. The five times:

Speaking of Davis, in addition to his 47 points in that game, he only recorded one assist in the contest. It was the 37th time in NBA playoff history that a player scored 40 or more points in a playoff game with only one or no assists. It was the fourth most points scored in a playoff game by a player with one or no assists in the game; Sam Jones holds the record… he had 51 points for the Celtics in a March 28, 1967 playoff games with only one assist. Karl Malone holds the mark for most points scored in a playoff game with no assists; he had 50 points and no assists for Utah in a post-season game on April 22, 2000.

Five players have had multiple playoff games with 40 or more points and only one or no assists. Reggie Miller, Shaquille O’Neal and Amare Stoudemire did it three times, while Bob McAdoo and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar did it twice.

The Bucks Thon Maker had a pair of games, Game #3 and Game #4, where he had five blocked shots in each contest. He is only the second player in league history to have multiple playoffs games (now three, he had one game with five blocks last season) with five or more blocks before the age of 22 (Maker is only 21). The other player is Serge Ibaka who had six playoff games with five or more blocked shots before he turned 22.

Maker has 10 blocks in the playoffs so far this season, ranking him second on that list, Anthony Davis tops the list with 11 blocks so far this post-season. It’s interesting to note, however, that Davis has 11 blocks in 152 minutes played; Maker has 10 blocks in only 56 minutes played.

Utah rookie guard Donovan Mitchell scored 28 and 27 points in the first two playoff games for the Jazz. He became only the 26th rookie in NBA history to have multiple playoff games with 25 or more points. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar tops the list with 10 playoff games with 25+ points as a rookie. He is followed by David Robinson with six such games, Elvin Hayes with five, and Alonzo Mourning and Arvydas Sabonis with four games each.

The last rookie to score 30 or more points in a playoff game was the Bucks’ Brandon Jennings; he had 34 points on April 13, 2010 in a playoff game versus the Atlanta Hawks. The most points scored by a rookie in a playoff game is held by another Bucks rookie, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. He tallied 46 as a rookie in an April 3, 1970 playoff games versus the Philadelphia 76ers. Magic Johnson and Chuck Person are the only other rookies to score 40 or more points in an NBA playoff game.

With a three-run pinch-hit home run on April 19, Ryan Braun collected his 1,000th career RBI. He became the first Milwaukee Brewers player to collect 300 HRs and 1,000 RBIs with the team, and the 138th player in baseball history to reach those numbers in his career.

Of the 138 players with 300 home runs and 1,000 RBIs in their careers, Braun is also currently one of only 21 players who amassed those numbers with only one team for their entire career. Whether or not that remains the case for Braun as he winds down his career in the next few years, for the time being, he is among this select group.

The 21 players who had/have 300 home runs and 1,000 RBI in their careers, all with only one team in their entire career are:

As you might expect, the New York Yankees are the franchise with the most players who reached 300 home runs and 1,000 with their team. The Milwaukee/Atlanta Braves and the Boston Red Sox franchises have had five players each who reached 300 HRs and 1,000 ribbies in their tenure with those teams.

Following are the number of players each of the 30 franchises have had reach 300 HRs and 1,000 RBIs.

One final note on Braun: As of games through April 20, 2018, Braun has career numbers of 307 home runs, 1,002 runs batted in, and a .301 batting average. He is currently one of only 28 players in baseball history to have 300 career HRs, 1,000 career RBIs and a career batting average of .300 or higher.

One of the NBA’s greatest players, Hal Greer, passed away on April 14. He was a 10-time all-star, a Hall of Famer, and a member of the NBA’s 50th Anniversary All-Time Team. He was 81.

Here are a few stats you may not know about Hal Greer.

Greer is one of 10 players in NBA history to play 800 or more games and have career averages of at least 19 points, five rebounds and four assists per game. The others on this list: Elgin Baylor, Larry Bird, Kobe Bryant, Wilt Chamberlain, Clyde Drexler, John Havlicek, LeBron James, Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan, Tracy McGrady, Oscar Robertson, Chris Webber and Jerry West. He averaged 19.2 points, 5.0 rebounds and 4.0 assists per game in the regular season in his career.

He is one of 129 players in league history to play in more than 1,000 regular season games. He played in 1,122 games.

Greer is one of 43 players to have played in 80 or more games in a season nine times or more (he played in 80 or more games nine times). Karl Malone tops this list with 17 seasons with 80 or more games played.

Greer scored 21,586 regular season points in his career. He is one of 44 players to reach the 20,000-point milestone. He did not, however, ever have a 2,000-point season.

He played in 92 playoff games averaging 20.4 points per game in the post-season. He is one of 34 players to play 80 or more playoff games and have a 20.0 points per game average.

Greer was listed at 6’2”. He is one of only three players 6’2” or shorter to have 5,000 or more career rebounds (the others are Lenny Wilkens and Jerry West). In fact, of all players 6’2” and under, Greer tops the list with most career rebounds with 5,665.

He is one of 13 players from Marshall Universty to play in the NBA. His 21,586 career points in the NBA are the most of any Marshall player. Jason Williams (“White Chocolate”) is second on the list for most points scored by a Marshall University player in the league.

Greer was the 14th selection in the 1958 NBA Draft. Of the 87 players chosen in that draft, Greer ranks second in career points behind Elgin Baylor, third in rebounds behind Baylor and Wayne Embry, and second in assists behind Guy Rodgers.